Numerous studies have examined the positive and negative effects of various types of interactions that occur while children view electronic book (e-book) stories. However, the effects of the different types of interactions have not been compared, and more importantly, the optimal amount and reoccurrence of these interactions on children has not…

Purpose: This article evaluated the utilization of an Internet-based, self-managed parent training program (i.e., Success with Stories [SWS]) designed to facilitate parental motivation about interactive storybook reading, perceived competence in their ability to engage in interactive storybook reading, and their reading practices and beliefs.…

Animal fears are common, emerging in early childhood and often continuing into adulthood. This study explores the outcomes of positive and negative storybooks about animals on children's attitudes and behaviors. Ninety-six children (ages 4-8 years) were exposed to either negative or positive information about two animals (snakes and frogs) via…

The current study examined whether readers encode the thoughts of story characters. Participants read narratives in which characters were described as either needing or not needing to remember a list of words. Across several experiments readers recalled more words in a free recall task when the story character was described as making an effort to…

Early childhood educators play a crucial role in language and literacy development and in promoting academic readiness. Shared book reading presented in early childhood classrooms can positively impact a child's language and literacy growth. The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the effectiveness of a shared book reading program…

Research Findings: Anthropomorphized animal characters have been associated with negative influences on educational outcomes for young children, for example story comprehension and prosocial learning from moral tales. In this study we investigate how character realism and moral theme influence young children's recall of the story content. Retells…

Telepractice offers speech-language pathologists (SLPs) increased flexibility to support language development, including emergent literacy in clients with complex communication needs. However, clinicians may feel uncertain how to pair books with augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) over telepractice. Following an overview of…

Social Stories™ are a story-based intervention commonly used to teach students with disabilities how to behave in new routines or changing environments, academic skills, and social interactions including tacting others' emotions. According to the National Standards Project, story-based interventions are considered an established treatment.…

Tender Shoots is a randomized controlled trial (RCT) for parents aimed at improving preschool children's oral language skills relevant for later reading. Parents of 72 preschool children (M = 50 months) were randomly assigned to either a Rich Reading and Reminiscing (RRR) condition, a Strengthening Sound Sensitivity (SSS) condition, or an…

The professional development (PD) of early childhood educators (ECEs) is key to childcare quality. The Professional Learning Community (PLC) model has been well-researched in K-12 settings and is found to have advantages over traditional models of PD; thus, it holds promise for educators in other settings such as early childhood education centers.…

The purpose of this study was to compare the impact of two storybooks -- one with realistic and one with non-realistic characters -- on children's comprehension performance. Children's performances in character and event recall, reasoning and problem-solving were compared. The participants were 100 young children enrolled in 1 of 13 classes at 4…

Expanding on the extant body of research on content validity, this study applied the tenets of content validity research to the development of an expository book reading intervention focused on science for preschool students with language impairment. This example case explains how, guided by content validity research in healthcare interventions,…

Expanding on the extant body of research on content validity, this study applied the tenets of content validity research to the development of an expository book reading intervention focused on science for preschool students with language impairment. This example case explains how, guided by content validity research in healthcare interventions,…

Storybook reading interactions are an important strategy to support and enhance the development of communication and literacy skills. In order to reap the benefits of these interactions, students must be active participants. Unfortunately, for students with special needs, more specifically those with complex communication needs, they encounter…

This project explored the effects of purposeful play after shared storybook readings on kindergarten children's reading comprehension, creativity, and language abilities. The participants were 42 (26 boys, 16 girls) culturally diverse kindergarten students attending an urban, public school in the northeastern United States. Some children (13) were…